ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim

ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim, also spelled ʿabdul Karim Kassem, (born 1914, Baghdad, Iraq—died Feb. 9, 1963, Baghdad), army officer who overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958 and became head of the newly formed Republic of Iraq.

Qāsim attended the Iraqi military academy and advanced steadily through the ranks until by 1955 he had become a high-ranking officer. Like many Iraqis, he disliked the socially conservative and pro-Western policies of the monarchy. By 1957 Qāsim had assumed leadership of the several opposition groups that had formed in the army. On July 14, 1958, Qāsim and his followers used troop movements planned by the government as an opportunity to seize military control of Baghdad and overthrow the monarchy. Qāsim became prime minister and assumed direction of a new republic.

The major issue facing Qāsim was that of Arab unity. The union of Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.) early in 1958 had aroused immense enthusiasm in the Arab world. Despite strong Pan-Arab sentiment in Iraq, Qāsim was determined to achieve internal stability before considering any kind of federation with the U.A.R. In turn the Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, came to resent Qāsim’s rule and tried to bring about its downfall. ʿAbd as-Salām ʿĀrif, a close supporter of Qāsim but also an ardent Nasserist, toured Iraq, praising Nasser. In March 1959 Pan-Arab opponents of Qāsim launched an open rebellion in Mosul. The bulk of the army remained loyal, and the uprising was crushed with little difficulty; Qāsim removed some 200 army officers of whose loyalty he could not be certain. Among civilians he was forced to rely for support mostly upon communists, who were eager for a chance to strike at their right-wing opponents, the Pan-Arabs, and now pushed for a larger voice in the determination of government policy. Qāsim resisted their demands, and several months later purged communist elements from the police and the army.

Qāsim’s support as prime minister steadily narrowed. By 1960 he had suspended organized political activity and repressed both right- and left-wing civilian and military elements when it seemed that they might compete with his authority. His rule was supported only by the army, but in the spring of 1961 a rebellion broke out among the Kurds—an ethnic group acutely conscious of its cultural differences from the Arabs and to which Qāsim had neglected to fulfill a promise for a measure of autonomy within the Iraqi state. This Kurdish revolt undermined even Qāsim’s military support, as much of the army became tied down in a seemingly endless and fruitless attempt to put down the rebellion. This situation, along with the discontent produced by repeated military purges, drew a number of officers into open resistance to the Qāsim regime. ʿAbd as-Salām ʿĀrif led dissident army elements in a coup in February 1963, which overthrew the government and killed Qāsim himself.